Inspiration Series: Peanuts

Who Inspired Me to Draw Comics?

Charles Schulz, the man behind Peanuts. Who could ever follow in his footsteps? He has inspired many fledgeling cartoonists, including me, even at a young age. Subtle humor, character development, simple plots, classic blunders, simple, yet complex art, and even Snoopy, probably the most popular character in his comic having a human personality.

Even I have had a few characters that were based on his work at one point. Even with “Friend to Friend”, there are some curious parallels between characters, although I don’t have any four-footed friends making appearances any time soon, especially since they’re anthropomorphic characters. I never emulated much of his art style into my work, but I did take into account the plot-driven stories, or recurring themes he used in it, as well as character development. Also taking a look at his earliest works was an encouragement to me, that I would someday see my art improve by leaps and bounds.

Naturally, I loved the 50th anniversary edition of the Peanuts comics, which delved deeper into why he started drawing comics, and the year-by-year editions they came out with years after they began re-syndicating his work as “Classic Peanuts”.